Thursday, July 14, 2011 - Istanbul, Turkey

Our hotel is right in the heart of the new downtown area with shopping and restaurants galore.  Today we spent the entire in the old part of the town where some amazing, amazing historical sites are found.

The first place we visited as the Blue Mosque.  In Turkey they actually call it Sultan Ahmet's mosque.  The mosque was built between 1606 and 1616.  It is commonly called the Blue Mosque because of the extensive use of blue tiles inside the mosque.

After spending time taking in the size and grandeur of the Blue Mosque we went outside and attempted to envision where the city's hippodrome once was in the heart of the city.  This is where chariot races community gatherings took place.  There are a few places where you can see the original depth of the hippodrome would have been but now it is a paved street with a few mouments and historical items.

We then went to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.  The building was actually a house/palace of Suleyman the Magnificent's close friend Ibrahim Pasa who was sold as a slave as a child, but later became friends with the Sultan and eventually became the grand vizar to the Sultan.  Beyond the gorgeous house, the items inside were astounding.  The museum holds an amazing collection of koran's, Turkish rugs, and manuscripts from the Ottoman Empire.

Some tiles from some Ottoman palaces from the 17th century. 

A Koran from the 18th century

A writing set from the 18th century

A drawer from the 17th century

A 400 year old rug

A 19th century rug - I love how the pattern looks like something from the southwestern part of the USA

The Basillca Cistern was truly astonishing.  We really had no idea what we were walking down to see and then to come into a cistern (where water was stored) from 532 AD that was built by Justinian.  The cistern is supported by 336 columns and it is estimated that it once held 2,800,000 cu feet of water!

One Medusa head was put upside down at the bottom of a column to show she had no power in the Roman-ruled Istanbul.

And here was another one that was put sideways.

This symbolizes a tree with the branches cut off.  Also, many people today refer to this shape as the "evil eye" and it is given to people on necklaces, bracelets, pins, statues, etc. to protect them from the evil in the world

Our last stop of the day was to the maginifant Aya Sofya.  Aya Sofya is called the Church of the Divine Wisdom in English.  It was built by Emperor Justinian and completed in 537.  It was the greatest Christian church in the world until 1453 when the Ottoman's conquered Istanbuhl and changed it into a mosque which is remained until 1935. It is now a museum, but if it were considered a church, it would be the fourth largest in the world.    

I did not get a good picture of Aya Sofya to truly represent the grandeur on the outside.

Entering Aya Sofya

An angel in one of the top corners surrounding the dome.  Faces are not painted or depicted in Isalm, so the faces were covered.  See the gold spider shape?  That's covering the original angel's face.

This angel's has recently had restorations done and the original face has been uncovered. This was only revealed in the past 6 months or so.  Not exactly what I've ever envisioned the face of an angel, but still amazing.

This arrow used to be one of two large Christian crosses that were on the doors that were used as the Emperor's entrance to the church.  When the Ottoman's took for the church, the cross was taken off and made into the arrow that you see today. 

The mosiacs on the top balconey of Aya Sofya were lovely.  This is what is left of this original 537AD.

This is what the original looked like.

Tomorrow we are going back down to the same area to see the Sultan's place, an archeological museum, and the Grand Bazaar!  Just 4 more days of touring before flying to Cairo for me and home for most of the rest of the group.  Time flies in some ways and crawls in others.  My emotions are mixed, sad to leave it all behind, but ready for some normalcy in my life.  I'm just an ordinary girl who is finding myself pinching myself every day that I am here and doing what I am doing.  I am blessed.